Re: Victims as Oppressors

This discussion recapitulates the whole progressive nationalisms vs. regressive 
nationalisms debate in which Marx himself was a participant. With respect to 
the US-Israel-Palestine, I think it is important to look at the discourses 
within the US, and how they have shifted in the last 10 years. 

Ten years' ago, when I participated in the Palestine Solidarity Committee at 
SUNY Binghamton, Jewish student organizations labelled PSC members as 
anti-Semites and supporters of terrorism. Their discourse was also the 
predominant one in US media and politics (although the mainstream media and 
politics - allegedly dominated by the so-called "Zionist Lobby" focused more on 
terrorism and rather less on antisemitism). No mainsteam figure in the US 
political sphere considered Arafat a legitimate political leader, or supported 
a negotiated settlement resulting in "land for peace."

I'd also note that much of the public discourse about the PLO wasn't so 
different from what US leaders said about the ANC and Mandela. 

In contrast with a decade ago, today in the US, support for Israel is much 
weaker. Arafat is recognized as a legitimate Palestinian leader, mainstream 
politicans do not as a rule label all Palestinian nationalists as terrorists, 
and the Democratic party supports a negotiated solution to the conflict. The 
"Zionist Lobby" (I'm not going to use the disgusting term "Holocaust Industry") 
may still be there, but it lacks much "pull," compared to the old days.

John Till

>>> <KSamman@aol.com> 07/18/01 12:20AM >>>

The problem with trying to figure out who deserves our sympathy is
that it leads to absurdities, at times becoming oppressive to other
peoples sufferings.  The way the Holocaust is used by Zionists today 
is that by giving themselves the highest award of the most victimized 
peoples of the world has allowed them the luxury to victimize others.
So let us not make an inventory, listing who is deserving and who is 
not, for in the end it will lead to another victim industry, to be 
appropriated
for causes unintended.

Khaldoun